A White Tomorrow
by Cataquack Warrior
Summary: AU divergence for Pokémon: Best Wishes starting with Episode 776: Meowth, Colress, and Team Rivalry. Team Rocket's ready for one last go against Team Plasma, but first, they look back on the good and bad parts of their past failures and wonder, what is the future they really want for themselves? Perhaps it is time to face, not denounce, the truth of their ideals.


**A White Tomorrow**

"We will make preparations to depart at once, Lord Ghetsis," the lady Team Plasma grunt's voice came loud and clear out of the computer.

"I look forward to finally having a test subject worthy of my expertise," Dr. Colress added. He seemed chipper, probably from amusement over the upstart, foreign team's failure to disrupt his research despite all their efforts. As if he would ever deign to join up with them!

"Do not fail me," Ghetsis's authoritative voice warned. "The Light Stone and N must be ours for the sake of our future."

"Confirming destination, Sir: the White Ruins. Over and out." With that, the computer became largely silent. The three members of Team Rocket gathered around it then shut it off.

"I think dat's all the intel our eavesdropping gizmo will get at the moment," Meowth said as he sat back on the grass and considered what they had just heard.

"Well," Jessie said, "I think it was worth the trouble." Meowth nodded. While their little foray into the base had largely been a bust, especially for him, they at least finally had an edge over their rival for control of Unova. He couldn't wait to have another go at that scientist after what he'd gone through today. Having that machine controlling his every thought and move made his fur shiver.

"So they're after Reshiram," Jessie mused. "I think I recall that being a Legendary Pokémon. If we can get it to the Boss, he might finally forgive us for letting those last couple batches escape." She idly stroked her magenta hair and let its long, pointed mane catch on a stray breeze. She liked to think that each region had its own wind, and Unova's somehow reminded her of home in Kanto, with that melancholy feel. Yet the wind also carried a sense of stillness, making her uneasy. To get her mind off that, she scooted around on the grass slightly. "So what do you think, James? James?"

Their blue-haired companion glanced up from his position next to a tree, where he was carefully shining some old bottle caps. "Oh, sorry," he said. "What were you saying?"

Meowth saw Jessie's cheek twitch and knew he was in for it. "James!" she said. "Take this seriously! This could be our finest hour in Team Rocket! And you're more concerned with your bottle caps?"

"I know," James said, looking away. "It's just…"

"Just what?" Jessie demanded, hands on her hips.

"Well," James admitted uneasily, "I don't know if any of this will matter in the end." With that, the forest clear grew dead quiet.

"What are ya talking about?" Meowth said. "We're sure to win against those delusional grunts and a scientist too smart for his own good!" Sure, they still had no idea how to deal with that annoying Pokémon-controlling machine, and their recruiting attempt with Colress was a bust, but they'd figure something out, right?

"Like we did today?" James countered before letting out a sigh. "I'm sorry. Mostly, I just wonder if we're really making any progress forward."

"That's nonsense," Jessie protested.

"Oh, really?" James said. "Then when was the last time we actually succeeded in a mission?"

"Um, there was that water temple," Meowth pointed out. "We saved the Boss's life, ya know."

"But we left empty-handed," James said.

"He's right," Jessie said, starting to look crestfallen. "And our other schemes haven't worked out either. We haven't talked to the Boss personally since the incident with Meloetta, and that annoying secretary has been getting snarky in our last few chats.

"But that's why we need to focus on this mission!" she said, trying to regain her fervor. "It could be what saves us from falling to the bottom of the barrel again! You remember how long it took us to make our way back up that last time!"

Meowth prayed to Arceus that that didn't happen again. Going from the top agents on the job to being so low and forgotten they'd fallen out of the roster was humiliating. But then he thought a little harder and his tail twitched. "Yeah," he said slowly, "but it wasn't really that bad, ya know?"

"No, I don't know!" Jessie said, turning her fiery attention from James to the cat. "We had to beg for food on street corners! We slept at playgrounds and bus stations! And never once were we even close to success!"

"Maybe," James said. "On the other hand, I think we were happy – or, at least, we didn't feel worried or stressed."

Jessie blinked and her eyes widened as she thought about that for a moment. "Ah," she said, "I think I sort of see what you mean by that. We knew we couldn't sink any lower, so we didn't have to worry about things falling apart on us. No fretting about if the Boss approves our next plan or leaves us hanging. Just the four – I mean three of us, seeing the world and never quitting."

The three became silent for some time, none of them wanting to admit that maybe there was another reason those years from the Orange Islands to Sinnoh had been some of the best years of their life. After all, they were all proud villains, crooks who denounced truth and love, and thinking back on all the times that they had decided to do a good turn for a change, those brief yet frequent enough moments that the main Twerp and Pikachu actually believed in Meowth's change of heart, was not something they wanted to linger on.

But even leaving that aside, it seemed like they'd had something precious in those years where they had to fend for themselves, when they couldn't rely on orders or even equipment from headquarters but had to scrounge and find what they needed on their own. And some of the things they'd accomplished in that time – the near-wins they sometimes manager, those trash-made mechs that could give even the Twerps a run for the money…

That last thought made Meowth pause. His peach-colored fur began to rise up, not out of fear but rather in anticipation. "Hang on, you all," he said. "Quit mopin' around for a minute! I think I just had a brilliant idea."

"What's that?" James asked curiously.

"It occurs to me," Meowth said, a feral grin growing on his face, "dat we've been looking at the good doctor's weapon the wrong way the whole time. It's time to try something that's a little outside the box and more in the garbage dump." He started to cackle wickedly. Those x-marked goons had no idea what they were in for.

…

…

"So when do we make our move?" Jessie asked. The Rockets were huddled behind some rocks overlooking the White Ruins, where the situation had quickly morphed from a peaceful archaeological expedition to a Team Plasma takeover to a frantic battle between them and some of the back-up Twerps.

"Hold your Horseas," Meowth said. "Let those goofs wear themselves all out. We'll make our move when the time is right, and not a second sooner."

"If we wait too long, though," James pointed out, "there might not be anything left for us to steal. And there's going to be a couple-minute interval between when I launch the rocket and when it gets here, so we can't afford to hold off too much."

"Just make sure you got the right coordinates in, Jimmy," Meowth said, glancing over at him. "Dat cargo is going to be our ace-in-the-hole today, so it'd better land right here or we'll be toast."

"Pipe down," Jessie said. "Something new is happening down there." A second hole into the subterranean ruins had just opened up, with a red Krookodile poking his head out. The Twerp and that green-headed N person jumped up, along with the mysterious Light Stone. " _Now_ can we move in?" Jessie pressed.

After a moment of thought, Meowth nodded. "Start the launch," he told James, "pronto."

"I'm on it," James said, pressing a red button on his wrist. Nothing seemed to happen, but they knew that just a few miles south, a rocket had burst from its concealed silo and was on its way. Now they just needed to wait, if they had that long.

Colress had fired his machine at Pikachu, and the red glow engulfing the electric mouse meant that it was already too late for it. Then N stepped forward with the red-glowing Light Stone and Jessie knew things had reached the tipping point. Once Plasma took the stone, it was going to be hard to pry it from their hands. Rocket or no rocket, there was no more time to waste.

N was walking forward with the briefcase containing the Light Stone when a mechanical claw shot out and snagged it. As all attention shifted over to the cliff face, Jessie smirked down at them. After all those failures, this was their big moment to shine. "Prepare for trouble," she declared, "did you forget about us?"

"And make it double," James added in, equally bold, "the last laugh's on us!"

"To protect the world from devastation!" she said, jumping into the air with a boldness she had forgotten.

"To unite the people within our nation!" James said, launching a similar leap in sync.

As they fell from the sky dramatically, she shouted, "To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!" she said, posing dramatically.

"James!" he announced on cue, drawing a red rose they'd managed to find during their recent scrounging.

"Wisest of the wise – and certainly smarter than you goons and twerps – Meowth's the name!" their third partner said, leaping into place.

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!" Jessie concluded their motto.

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!" James said.

"Meowth, that's right!" Meowth said, watching as Team Plasma gathered their senses.

"You again," Colress said dismissively. "Have you fools any sense in your heads?

"In return for your kindness the other day," the doctor continued, "I will grant you my own generous offer. Leave us to our business now, and you will be spared for the moment. Otherwise, I will take back my little assistant from the other day."

Meowth remained unafraid, though, and he glared confidently at the doctor and his machine. "I'd think again, doc," he said. "Your dinky contraption don't scare us one bit now!"

"After all," James said, "we've finally figured out its weakness."

The scientist's eyes furrowed. "Weakness? Impossible! I have weeded out every flaw in my creation."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Jessie said. She lifted an ear to the sky. "Our secret weapon should be arriving about…now."

A several-story-tall rocket burst from the sky and crashed down into the center of the battlefield, causing the Twerps and Plasma goons to scatter even as the enslaved Pokémon held their ground. Then the walls of the rocket fell to the ground, revealing the contents inside. Several strange beings emerged from the smoke and marched forward with ominous stomps. At first they seemed to be Pokémon, but then their size and metallic glint betrayed their true identity.

"You see," Jessie boasted as she saw Colress clench his hand in frustrated realization, "we figured out something. Even if your machine can control any Pokémon, what if we fight you with something else entirely?"

"Feast your eyes on our latest mecha Pokémon!" James declared proudly as they finally became fully visible. There were three large machines, each hastily-assembled from whatever junk they could find the last few days. First was the serpentine Sevi Tank, rolling forward on its tank treads with unstoppable force; given the luck they'd had with its predecessor back in Johto, even if it kind of backfired, Jessie had lots of confidence in its capability for wrecking everything in its path. Next came the Robo Carnivine, a towering, mean and green machine large enough to swallow one of those Golurks in one snap of its jaws. And finally, out stepped the Mecha-Meowthinator 2.0, not quite as large but making up for it in agility (and no longer needing a pilot).

"Anyway," Meowth said as he ignited their hot air balloon and hopped aboard, "we'd _love_ to stay and chat more, but we'll leave you to work out the kinks in your invention. Glad we could help ya out with the bugs, doc!"

"Ta ta!" Jessie said, grabbing onto the rope ladder of the ascending balloon in one hand while keeping close hold of the Light Stone with her other. The sphere had stopped glowing red and was now pure black again. "Looks like Team Rocket's flying off, and this time's our win!"

"Hey, wait!" Ash shouted, but he was cut off when the Sevi Tank surged ahead into the fray, followed by its compatriots. Programmed to attack everyone but Team Rocket, they quickly threw the whole ruins into chaos. Much as Jessie would like to stay to see her beloved mecha triumph, she knew from experience not to get too cocky. They'd managed to grab something for once, so now they had to make sure they kept it. As the balloon took off, taking a course to avoid a helicopter approaching the scene, the last Jessie saw of the ruins was the Mecha-Meowthinator drilling its claws into Colress's machine while the Twerp tackled Colress.

…

…

A couple months later, three beleaguered figures wearily hobbled down a rocky valley amongst the northern mountains of Kanto. As they approached the dead end, they could see a towering pink fortress jutting up like a mighty castle, or a rocket. At the front door, a team of grunts barred the way. "Halt!" the leader said while the rest of them readied their Pokéballs. "What is your business here?"

"Jessie, James, and Meowth, reporting in," Jessie said, leaning on James for support. "We have urgent information for Giovanni, along with a special package for his eyes only. Oh – and our code is R-778, BW-119, S-16, U-45 – or at least, that's what it was a month or three back."

The grunt turned and tapped on his communicator for a minute before turning back to them. "The Boss has been informed," he said. "He wishes to know why he has not heard from you for months."

Meowth waved a paw dismissively. "We had to keep communication silence so nothing went wrong," he said, "but I think what we have for him is sure to make his day!"

"Then come with me," the grunt said, stepping aside for them to enter the sleek, aquamarine halls of the base.

As the team walked down through their headquarters, James let out a long sigh of relief at finally arriving. It had been a long ordeal, but they had at least gotten away with their prize. Now the question was, would it be enough to satisfy the Boss? The corridors were filled with various grunts walking here and there, eager recruits determined to prove their worth to the organization. James remembered those exhilarating days, the sense of triumph at a successful mission, and the growing despair as they failed to meet their superiors' expectation. Sometimes, deep in his heart where he'd never say it, James would ask, was it really worth it? These half-hearted praises that might be forgotten as soon as they stepped out of the door again? Promotions you couldn't be sure if they were genuine or just part of a chess game – a sport his parents never got him to like?

But those qualms hid away once more as they entered the darkly-lit office. Dressed in formal business attire with his black hair smoothly cut as always, as if he were but a simple business executive and not someone who could end more than just their careers at a moment's notice, Giovanni sat at the desk while absently stroking his Persian's back. "So," he said in that voice that always made them shiver unconsciously, "the team is finally here."

"Sir!" the three said, stiffening into salute formation.

"I hope you have something good for me this time," he said in an expectant tone, though whether he was expecting good news or simply expecting to have the opportunity to punish them was up in the air.

"We do, sir," Jessie said quickly before glancing at James. "James, could you do the honors?"

James nodded before pulling a large, heavy orb out of his pocket. The coarse rock was whitish and featureless besides a few blunt and rough scratches here and there. James carefully set the ball on the desk and stepped back. "This is the Light Stone, sir," he said. "We seized it from Team Plasma and brought it straight to you for the glory of Team Rocket."

"The Light Stone…" Giovanni mused. "I wondered what had happened when news started to trickle in of a final battle with Team Plasma in Unova, but I did not hear anything from you."

"We woulda called you if we could, Boss," Meowth said, "but we wanted to make sure we got this to ya pronto before someone decided to swipe it from us. So we had to keep radio silence while we made our way back incognito."

Jessie had been insistent on that. They weren't going to lose out like they did with the Lustrous Orb by dawdling. So as soon as they reached the sea, they'd piled into their Basculin submarine and slowly pedaled their way across the ocean, all the way back to Kanto. They didn't dare make port once on the journey, not even when they thought they saw the Twerps on an island for some reason. The only times they took a break was on barren juts of rock far out at sea, with nothing to do but fish for food and collect rocks. But it had worked out, hopefully.

James was snapped out of his musings when Giovanni spoke again, rolling the orb in right hand. You could only barely make out the rock in the dark. "I see that you worked especially hard to bring this to me," he said. "However, I must ask: do you actually know what this is for, much less _how_ to use it?"

At that biting question, the trio became dead silent. "Well…" Meowth said slowly, rubbing his paws together to conceal his anxiety, "we know dat Team Plasma was going all out to get their paws on it, so it has to be pretty important, right?" He had an uneasy, fake smile on his face that quickly faded as the Boss stared him down. Persian yawned in a theatric, sarcastic manner, making the Boss smile in amusement and momentarily pet it before turning back to the team with cold, unrelenting eyes.

"Perhaps," Giovanni said, "but that only means that they knew a way to use it. And unless you brought anything that can shed light on that mystery, this is little more than a bauble, a worthless pebble I could just as easily pick off the beach at the Seafoam Islands."

The Boss had no idea just how right he was with that statement, James thought anxiously. Perhaps that was why James decided to speak up then. "Now wait a minute!" he burst out. "Sure, we could have tried to find out more, but would we have still managed to keep the Light Stone for you? It wasn't easy, you know? We slaved away piloting our sub across the seas, with nothing to do but carve and polish rocks and other jetsam we picked up, knowing that every second we took getting here we could fail at any minute and be left with nothing again!"

James paused, took another deep breath, and, despite Jessie glancing worriedly at him and hissing, "James, what are you doing?!", continued.

"So, what I'm saying is," he said in a calmer manner, "let's just be happy we got something solid in the end, something we didn't have to give up or get hurt over. After what _all_ of us went through, isn't that enough?" After he was finished, he slowly shrunk back and waited flinchingly to see the Boss's reaction.

Giovanni stared into the darkness of the room for a minute, rubbing his forehead as if in memory, and then at last he spoke. "Yes, if nothing else, it is clear evidence that you – and Team Rocket as a whole – made its mark in Unova. And I suppose that I can thank you for what else has developed over there in the meantime."

"Boss?" Jessie said questioningly and hopefully. Things had looked good for Team Rocket and their machines when they'd fled the White Ruins with their prize, but she'd been prepared for things to have fallen apart the minute they were away. Maybe, though, their little operation had a little more bite than they thought it did.

"Given how you kept hidden, you must not be aware of what happened after you escaped with the Light Stone," he explained. "From the fragmented reports trickling in, Team Plasma, including its main leaders, were all captured by the international police and are being held in a secure location pending trial. A few members such as the enigmatic 'N' are still at large, but overall it appears that Plasma is effectively defunct."

The team let out a sigh, first uneasily but gradually with relief setting in. "So we shut 'em all down?" Meowth said eagerly. If so, perhaps they were, if not promoted, at least still on good grounds with the Boss.

"So it seems," Giovanni replied coolly. "With that in mind as well as your little gift to me, I believe I can consider your Unova operations, while disappointing at certain points, an overall success for Team Rocket."

"Thank you, sir!" they exclaimed, prostrating themselves gratefully while tears overflowed from their eyes.

"Now, then," he continued, "I will turn this stone over to our scientists. They may be able to learn more about the artifact's purpose, and if nothing else, it gives us an advantage over Team Plasma should they rebuild.

"As for you," he said, "I have a new mission for you in the Kalos region. There are rumors of another team emerging there. You may take a week off to recover and requisition supplies, but then I want you to move out immediately. Deal with those upstarts and teach them all the might of Team Rocket!"

The team promptly jumped back up and saluted once more. "We won't let you down, sir!" Jessie promised.

"You can count on us," Meowth assured him. "And we'll do it all for the Boss!" James nodded in agreement while keeping his eye on the dull orb; as they turned to exit, the last he saw of it was as Giovanni stowed it in a side drawer and turned his attention to other business. Satisfied, James turned away and followed his teammates.

"Well," Meowth said as they walked back down the hall, "dat went about as well as we coulda hoped. The Boss still thinks we took down Team Plasma like we said we did with Galactic, and this time we got him a little bonus to boot." It was a good thing, too; who knows what else they could have hastily offered up to satisfy him otherwise?

"Even if he forgot about it after half a minute," James said, in a voice that actually sounded rather relieved about that. Hopefully he'd also forget to take a closer look at it in the light.

"So what if he did?" Jessie said, seemingly not noticing James's tone. "As long it gives us good marks in our record, that's enough to satisfy me. Besides, right now I want to just relax for a couple days and enjoy the amenities of headquarters. Want to check out the rec center? I'm dying to see if _My Sweet, Sweet Lady_ is out."

That sounded good, James thought. They'd heard people mention the new Diantha movie in development back when they were in Driftveil City, right before everything went down with Team Plasma, so maybe by now it was finally up for watching. Still, there was something else James needed to do first. "Before we do that," he said, "could I stop at our balloon? I just want to double check on my collection there."

Meowth scoffed. "You and yer collections," he griped. "First it was bottle caps, and then you switch to collecting rocks. What, you think you can go into business selling counterfeit stones?"

"Hey," James said, "I needed something to keep me occupied during our long odyssey here. Besides, I have some amateur experience as a geologist, so I think I have a good chance with things. Even if I can't stop myself from leaving scratches on the ones I carve, I think they're still quite the work of art." In a half-whisper, he added, "Good enough for the Boss, at least."

"What's the Boss have to do with it?" Meowth said. James said nothing, wondering if there was an extra layer of anxiety to the cat's question or if it was just his imagination. It had been dark in the office, so they probably hadn't been paying close attention to the stone, but what if they did? But he couldn't ask, not here, with grunts passing by every minute.

"Leaving that aside," Jessie cut in, "I think we should talk about something else." They had stepped out of the building by this point, and after glancing around carefully for a moment, she continued, "So, how much longer do you think we'll be able to keep this bluff up?"

The other two stiffened, knowing what she meant. "What're you talking about?" Meowth said uneasily.

"You know what I mean," Jessie said. "It was the Twerps who really took out Team Galactic, not us, and I'd bet every one of James's caps and rocks that they finished Plasma for us, too."

"Well," James pointed out, "our machines could have done the job. You never know."

"James," she said, "we have enough trouble with our mechs that they sometimes destroy themselves." That was true, they had to admit. "Point being," she continued, I don't know how much longer we can keep the Boss on our side."

"Maybe the question is if we even want that?" Meowth said quietly. No one had a good answer to that.

But James finally said, "Does that really matter? Let's just give it our best shot in Kalos, and we'll see where we go from there. Top or bottom, we'll make them remember Team Rocket!"

"You're right, James," Jessie said, her determination returning with a flair. "Whatever comes our way, we'll face it all and show them our true power! They'd better be prepared to surrender or fight."

"Meowth, that's right!" the tawny feline cheerfully agreed.

"Wobbuffet!" The familiar voice made all of them blink and turn around. Wobbuffet was standing there, salute in place, as if the blue blob had never even left.

Jessie looked at him, and her face softened as a slight smile grew on her face. "Yeah," she said wistfully, "we'll do it together, our way, so they'd better be prepared to fight." She then turned to head back to the building, Meowth and Wobbuffet right behind her. "Don't take too long," she called back to James, "and remember the password to get in."

"We'll save ya a seat and some popcorn!" Meowth added.

James nodded and crouched down by the deflated hot air balloon. He took one final glance back at his partners. Even if this wasn't the best kind of life, it was still his life – and more importantly, it was _their_ life, all of them, and that meant the world to him. Wherever that path led, whether it was deeper into the darkness of Team Rocket or out to some white light in the distant, unknown horizon, they would find what they were looking for together.

He opened up the sack with all of his polished stones and carefully sorted them out until he was sure that all of them were still there, including one in particular. Picking up a blackish orb with rippling swirls all across it like a gas giant, he began to shine it once more. As he gently rubbed the ancient stone, perfectly smooth except for three old, refined grooves, the beautiful treasure glimmered a bright red that complemented the falling sunset, bringing a light smile to his face. Yes, it was amazing what you could do with a couple months at sea, a bunch of rocks, and some decent carving – and counterfeit – skills.

And as the Light Stone glowed red with life like a dormant egg, a power within the orb watched and waited, perhaps musing on the irony and potential of those who so boldly denounced the evil of truth.


End file.
